Billiard cue and method of manufacturing same



c. K. LE FIELL 3,381,959

BILLIARD CUE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME May 7, 1968 Filed Feb. 16, 1965 c. K. LE FIELL.

mvswmza BY W AT TQRNE Y.

United. States Patent 3,381,959 BILLIARD CUE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME Cecil K. Le Fiell, Whittier, Calil:'., assignor to Le Fiell Manufacturing Company, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., a

corporation of California Filed Feb. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 433,020 Claims. (Cl. 273-68) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tubular metallic billard cue tapering from a relatively thick butt section to a tip-mounting section of relatively small diameter, said cue incorporating in the surface character of the metal thereof a novel facility in the butt portion of the cue for enhancing a frictional relationship between the hand gripping the same and the butt of the cue and in the tip section of the one a facility enhancing the smooth sliding of the cue through the fingers of the hand with which said tip portion is normally guided in the use of the cue.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the ilzventi0n.The development of cues used in the playing of billiards or pool to increase the facility with which such cues serve their purpose in the playing of these games.

(2) Description of the prior arl.Heretofore billiard cues have almost universally been made of hard wood and after being sanded smooth throughout their length receive several coats of varnish. Two problems in the use of billiard cues have always presented themselves. The first of these is to provide the surface of the butt end portion of the cue with some means for making a hand stick to this end of the cue for the impartation to the cue of a driving movement. The other problem is to provide some means permitting the slender tip section of the cue to slide smoothly through the fingers of the hand guiding the same so as not to impede movement of the cue lengthwise through said hand during a ball-driving movement of the cue.

T 0 increase the adhesion between the butt section of the cue and hand gripping the same, this section has frequently been wrapped with tape or with heavy cord to give this section of the cue a rough surface. Patents Nos. 1,296,285 and 1,459,144 disclose cues, the butt sections of which are provided respectively with a sleeve of knurled fiber and a sleeve of hard rubber to produce ample friction between the butt section of the cue and the hand gripping the same.

The use of talc on the surface of the hand guiding the tip section of the cue to cause the latter to slide smoothly through that hand has been practiced generally, and Patent No. 1,147,705 discloses a cue which obviates this practice by providing the tip section of the cue with an anti-friction sleeve formed or talcoid or like material which itself provides a lubricant allowing this sleeve to slip freely through the fingers of the hand guiding the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The prime object of the present invention is to produce a billiard cue which is superior to any of those produced in the prior art in that it is of hollow aluminum tubular construction and the finished surfaces of the metal itself forming the cue are invested with characteristics which produce a high degree of friction between the butt section of the cue and one hand gripping the same and which allows the tip section of the cue to slide freely through the fingers of the other hand without any lubricant being required. These directly opposite characteristics embodied 3,381,959 Patented May 7, 1968 ice with the butt section and tip sections of the cue are achieved by the discovery that a highly polished metal surface on the butt section of the cue will set up a friction between this and the hand gripping the same which is equal or superior to the friction previously sought by wrapping the butt section of the cue with tape or heavy cord or providing it with a frictional sleeve as in the aforementioned patents. The means for investing the tip section of the cue of the invention with an antifriction or self lubricating character resulted from the discovery that a surface finish on said tip section of a specifically critical degree of roughness will cause the tip section to slide readily through the fingers of the hand guiding the same with as much ease as if talc or some other lubricant were used to facilitate such movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a billiard table illustrating the conventional manner of employing a billiard one in playing a ball on said table.

FIG. 2 is a full length plan view of a preferred embodiment of the cue of the present invention and shows how said cue is divided into a shaft or guiding section, at the impact end thereof, and a driving section at the butt end thereof.

FIG. 3 is a highly magnified fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and illustrates how the surface of said guiding section of said cue is substantially covered with transverse ridges and valleys of a certain degree of coarseness which are preferably formed in said surface by transversely grinding or abrasive polishing the same.

FIG. 4 is a highly magnified fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 and illustrates the relative smoothness of the surface produced by the buffing operation applied in the method of the invention to the butt or driving section of the cue.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring specifically to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, a billiard table 10 having a cushioned wall 11 and supporting a billiard ball 12 are here diagrammatically represented to illustrate the usual method of employing a conventional billiard one 13 in playing such a ball on such a table.

The one 13 has, at its butt end, a relatively thick driving section 14 from which the diameter of the cue tapers down to a minimum value where the cue terminates at the impact or tip end of the cue in a guiding section 15 which terminates in a conventional cue tip 16 through which the impact of the cue is delivered to the ball 12.

The guiding section 15 is usually about one foot in length and about one-half inch in diameter, and in playing the one 13 against the ball 12, the player, if right handed, normally places his left hand 17 on the table 10 and crooks the index finger 18 of said hand over the guiding section 15 of the cue and allows the guiding section 15 to loosely slide through said finger while guiding the the cue for accurately delivering the impact of the cue tip 16 to the ball 12. At the same time, the driving section 14 of the cue is gripped firmly in the right hand 19, and, when the player is properly positioned to deliver the desired blow through the cue tip to the ball 12, the one is withdrawn through the index finger 18 about half the length of the guiding section 15 and the right hand is moved suddenly forward to slide the guiding section of the cue through the crooked finger 18 to deliver the desired impact from the cue tip 16 upon the ball 12.

Heretofore, in the use above described of a conventional billiard one 13 it has been the practice of players to apply talc or other powdered lubricant to the surfaces of the hand 17 used to guide the guiding section 15 of 3 the cue so as to reduce the friction between the guiding section and the guiding hand 17. The butt end of the cue is sometimes wound with a single layer of light cord or friction tape to give the player a non-slip grip on that end.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, a one is shown in FIG. 2 which may conform precisely in external contour, in weight, and in balance to the conventional billiard cue 13 but the cue 25 is preferably formed with a tapering tubular body which may be produced by conventional processes from aluminum or other metal tubing and this tubular body may or may not be separated into two parts which are rigidly connected to meet at a line 26 approximately at the middle of the cue as is the case in the hollow metallic cue invented by John H. Steffes and disclosed in his application for US. Letters Patent Serial No. 433,019, filed on February 16, 1965 and now Patent No. 3,334,901.

The one 25 includes a butt or driving section 27 which may be considered as including that half of the cue 25 between line 2 6 and the butt end of the cue, and a shaft or guiding section 28 which may be considered as including the other half of said one between line 26 and a one tip 29 mounted on the terminal end of said section. The sections 27 and 28 of cue 25 thus constitute an integrated thin walled tubular metallic body 30 of said cue.

The production of the body 30 as by a swaging operation or a series of swaging operations or by other means comprises merely one or more of the preliminary steps in the method of manufacturing this body in readiness to be used in one 25. One of the additional steps necessary to complete said body is to subject the guiding section 28 thereof to a transverse grinding or polishing operation as by applying thereto an abrasive belt or wheel using an abrasive grit within a range of 120 to 320 and preferably about 180, while rotating the body 30 about its axis. The result of this grinding operation is to practically cover the external surface of the guiding section 28 of the body 30 with close parallel ridges and valleys 31 which are microscopically enlarged in the diagrammatic cross-sectional view of FIG. 3. The provision of these ridges and valleys transversely over the surface of the guiding Section 28 has been found in practice, through a not entirely understood phenomenon, to eliminate the need for a powder or other type of lubricant to make said guiding section slip freely through the guiding fingers of the hand resting on the billiard table while the cue 25 is used in the conventional manner above described in playing the same against a billiard ball 12.

The best theory advanced for explaining this phenomenon, is that air is trapped in the transverse scratches 31 as the guiding section 28 is slid lengthwise through the guiding hand and finger encircling the same so that this air forms a lubricating pneumatic film preventing direct contact between guiding section 28 of cue 25 and the adjacent portions of the guiding hand.

An alternative step in the method of the invention to the grinding operation just described, is the subjection of the guiding section 28 of the body 30, to a shotpeening of the surface of the guiding section 28 to invest this surface with a multitude of separate closely spaced craters or pock marks produced by the individual shot as these are blasted against said surface. The pock marks with which said surface is thus invested function, in accordance with the aforestated theory, to likewise trap small bodies of air between the adjacent finger surfaces and the external surface of said guiding section so that, in the aggregate, said bodies of air form an intervening pneumatic film between the guiding section 28 and the guiding fingers so as to allow said guiding section to freely slip through said fingers Without any lubricant such as talc powder or the like being required.

A final step in the method of manufacturing the one body 30 is the subjection of the driving section 27 thereof to a buffing operating with or without the assistance of a suitable compound. The result of the latter operation is to invest the external surface of driving section 27 of the body 30 with a smooth finish. This surface, while absolutely smooth to the human eye, when seen microscopically as shown in FIG. 4, has the appearance of being invested with very smooth undulations 32. Due to the smoothness of the surface 32 undulations, however, the phenomenon produced by the relatively coarse transverse ridges and valleys 31 and above described, is entirely absent. Indeed a contrary result takes place of producing a relatively high degree of friction between the right hand 19 and driving section 27 of the cue 25 as when gripping said section in playing said cue against a billiard ball 12. The step just described of highly polishing driving section 27 of body 30 is thus seen to have the unexpected beneficial effect of eliminating any necessity for taping or cord-wrapping section 27 to assure against slippage of the hand gripping this section when driving the cue against the ball 12.

As indicated in FIG. 2, the depth of the ridges and valleys 31 (or the pocks produced by shot peening guiding section 28) best perform their function above described when they came within the preferred range of 2025 R.M.S. (root mean square). If much finer than this range, said scratches or pocks are noticeably less effective in producing the pneumatic lubricating film. If coarser than this range, said scratches or pocks render the guiding section 28 objectionably rough.

The range of 4-8 R.M.S. indicated in FIG. 2 for the undulations 32 signifies that these are preferably smoother than 9 R.M.S.

The standard of roughness above referred to as R.M.S. (root-mean-square) is a well known standard in American industry and is described in the 1943 issue of Machinerys Handbook as follows:

If, from a central reference line, the heights and depths of these surface irregularities are measured at equally spaced intervals, and if the sum of such measurements is divided by the number of points at which such measurements are made, the resulting average may be used in comparing the roughness of this surface with that of another having an average value obtained in a similar manner. If these measurements are in micro-inches (1 micro-inch equals .000001 inch equal 1/1,000,000") and if each measurement is squared, then averaged as explained, the square root of this average yields a figure indicative of surface roughness which is more convenient to use in practical work.

Assumed that the quantities a, b, c, etc. equal the various profile measurements in micro-inches and m equals the number of points measured; then surface roughness may be indicated by the following root-mean-square (R.M.S.) formula:

There is an entire family of instruments well know in the art as Profilometers, which are used for accomplishing such measurements. Basically it consists of a small conical diamond with a minute radius on its tit, coupled to a transducer, very much like a phonograph pick-up head which when dragged across the surface being examined at a uniform speed and pressure, generates a minute current, which when properly amplified, moves the pointer of a meter which is calibrated in R.M.S. values.

For a full disclosure of the mathematics followed in determining R.M.S. values of the roughness of a given surface, reference is made to the Department of Defense publication Military Standard Surface Roughness, Waviness and Lay which is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. which is dated October 13, 1955, and particularly to pages 9 and 10 thereof.

From the foregoing description it is believed clear that the present invention provides a novel cue and method of manufacturing the same which eliminates the need for employing artificial agents such as talcum powder for assuring slippage of the shaft or guiding section 28 of the cue through the fingers of the guiding hand, and eliminating the necessity of Wrapping the gripped area of the butt end of the cue with cord or tape to increase the friction, or for the player to grip the shaft so tightly as to atfect the accuracy of his shot.

The claims are:

17 A method of manufacturing a billiard cu'e body which includes the steps of: producing a tapered thin walled metallic tube including a relatively thick driving section at its butt end, and a guiding section of diminished diameter at its impact end; and abrading the external surface of said guiding section to substantially uniformly cover the same with scratches forming ridges and valleys of a degree of coarseness coming within the range of 2025 microinches R.M.S.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 including the additional step of buffing the external surface of said driving section to give the same a high polish, coming approxi' mately Within a range of 4-8 microinches R.M.S.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the abrading step comprises a grinding operation using a grit abrasive of approximately 180 fineness.

4. A billiard cue body comprising a tapered thin walled metallic tube including a thicker driving section at the butt end of said cue and a guiding section of diminished diameter at the impact end of said cue, the external surface of said guiding section being substantially covered with microscopic air trapping pockets coming approximately within a range of 20-25 microinches R.M.S.

5. A billiard cue as recited in claim. 4 wherein the external surface of said driving section has a high polish approximately within a range of 48 microinches R.M.S.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 771,247 10/1904 Hillerich 273-72 1,147,705 7/1915 Campbell 273--68 1,296,285 3/1919 Greenfield 273-68 1,459,144 6/1923 Davenport et al 273-68 ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

F. BARRY SHAY, Examiner.

R. J. APLEY, Assistant Examiner. 

